Charidotella (Charidotella) rubrotestacea ( Boheman, 1855 )

Sekerka, Lukáš, 2016, Taxonomic and nomenclatural changes in Cassidinae (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (1), pp. 275-344 : 285-286

Charidotella (Charidotella) rubrotestacea ( Boheman, 1855) stat. restit.

Coptocycla rubrotestacea Boheman, 1855: 423 (original description).

Type locality. ‘Columbia’.

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: pinned: ‘Colum- | bia [w, p, cb] || Pazur | dakhi [w, hw, s] || Type. [w, p, s] || NHRS-JLKB | 000021793 [w, p, cb]’ ( NHRS).

Remarks. BOHEMAN (1855) described Coptocycla rubrotestacea presumably from a single specimen. Subsequently, the species was listed only in catalogues (see BOROWEC 1999a) and BOROWIEC (1989) synonymized it with Charidotella ventricosa ( Boheman, 1855) . However, C. rubrotestacea differs by the uniformly pale explanate margin of elytra (humeral spots always present in C. ventricosa ), subcircular body shape (subtriangular in C. ventricosa ), clypeus with an apical sulcus (smooth in C. ventricosa ), and less convex elytra with much lower and obtuse postscutellar tubercle (high and sharp in C. ventricosa ). I therefore restore the species status of C. rubrotestacea . The quite unusual combination of morphological features of this species is similar only to Charidotella morio (Fabricius, 1801) , which differs by the primarily black ventral side (uniformly yellow in C. rubrotestacea ), explanate margin of elytra declivous in their entire length (canaliculate in apical third in C. rubrotestacea ), more constricted pronotum in its basal half, thus appearing subpentagonal (broadly rounded and nearly semicircular in C. rubrotestacea ), and large basal teeth of claws (small in C. rubrotestacea ). Charidotella rubrotestacea is so far known only from the holotype.

Distribution. Colombia ( BOHEMAN 1855).